The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-11-17
THE DUTY OF PARENTS.
DR.. TALt;AGE'S DISCOURSE AT THE
TABERNACLE.

Treatment Of the Young.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 13.-The weekly pub /
location Of DR.. Talmage's sermons is be- .
yond parallel. Beside the English speak /
inc IL ,ns, including Australia and New
Zealand. the sermons are regularly trans
lated into the languages of Germany,
France Italy, Denmark, Norway, Rus
STA and India. The gentlemen having in
chargg he publication of these sermons
inform us that in this country, every
week, 13.600,000 copies of the entire
sermon are printed, and about 4,000,-
600 in other lands, making over H.
GOO coo per week. A similar arrange
ment Is now being made for the publica-
ton OF DIR. Talmage's Friday evening
talks.
The subject of the sermon to-day was
parental Biunders. - and the text was
l Samuel iv, Is: He fell from off the
scat backward by the side of the gate.
and his neck brake, and he died: for he
was an old man, and heavy" DR.. Tai
mage said:
This is the end of long story of pa
rental neglect. Judge Ell was good
man. but he let his two boys, Hophni
and Phinehas, do as they pleased, and
through over indulgence they went to
ruin. The blind Old Judge. SO years of
age, is seated at the gate waiting for the
news of an important battle in which his
two sons were at the front. An express
is coming with tidings from the battle.
This blind nonogenarian puts his hand
behind his ear and listens and cries:
"What meancth the noise of this
tumut?' An excited messenger, all out
of breath with the speed, said to him:
"'Our army is defeated. The sacred
chest. called the ark, is captured, and
your sons are dead on the field. No
wonder the father tainted and expired.
The domestic tragedy in which these two
sons were the tragedians had finished its
fifth and last act He fell from off the
seat backward by the side of the gate and
his neck brake, and he died; for he was
an old man and heavy"
Eli had made an awful mistake in re-
gard to his children. The Bible distinctly
says: "iis sons made themselves vile
and he restrained them not" Oh. the
ten thousand mistakes in rearing chill
dren. mistakes Of parents, mistakes of
teachers in day school and Sabbath
classes, mistakes which we all make.
VIII it not be useful to consider them?
This country is going to be conquered
by a great army, compared with which
chat Of Baldwin the First, and XerXes,
and Alexander, and Grant, and Lee, all
nut together. were in numbers insigniti-
cant. They viii capture all our pulpits,
stOrehou5os. factories and halls of legisla-
ton, III our shipping, all our wealth and
all our honors. They will take possession
of ali authority, from the United States
presidency down to the humblest con-
s.abulary of everything between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They are
on Che march now. and they halt neither
day nor night. They will soon be here,
and all the present active population of
this country must surrender and give
way. I refer TO the great army of chill
dren. Whether they shall take possession
OF everything for good or for bad depends
aIpon the STYLE Of preparation through
which tu,v pass on their way from cradle
10 throne. Cicero acknowledges he kept
III his desk a collection of prefaces fol
boo. which prefaces he could at any
time attach to anything he wanted tc
publish for himself or others; and
parents and teachers have all prepared
the --'Fctace of every young life undel
their Charge, aud not only the pre-
face. mt the appendix, whether
the volume be poem or
fare Families. and schools, and legis-
latur.3 are in our day busily engaged il
disc sing what is the best mode of edu-
canum children. Before this question
almost every other dwindles into insig-
nlfcaucc, while dependent upon its
proper solution is the welfare of govern.
ments and ages eternal. Macaulay tells
of the war which Frederick the SeconC
made against Queen Maria Theresa. And
one day she appeared before the august
diet, wearing mourning for her father
and held up in her arms bafore them hel
child. the archluke. This so wrought
upon the officers and deputies of the
people that with half drawn swords they
broke forth in the war cry, ''Let us die
for our queen, Maria Theresa So, thi
morning. realizing that the boy of today
is t. he The ruler of the future, the popu
lar sovereign. | hold him before the
American people to arouse their enthusi
assn in his behalf and to evoke their oatl
fpr his defense, his education and hi
sublime destiny.
If parent, you will remember whel
you were aroused to these great respOn
sibihies, and when you found that yOl
had not done all required after you haO
admired the tiny hands, and the gloss.
hair, and the bright eyes that lay III tn
cradle, you suddenly remembered tina
that hand would yet be raised to bles
the world with its benediction, or t
smile it with a curse. In Ariosto's grea
poem there is a character called Rug
gioro. who has a shield of insufferabl
eplcnlor, but it is kept yelled save o.
certain occasions, and when uncovered ]
startled and overwhelmed its beholdel
who before had no suspicion of its bright
ness. My hOpc today is to uncover tn
destiny OF your child or student aboU
which Won may have no special appreci5
ton. and flash upon you the splendors {
its immortal nature. Behold the shiCl
and the sword of its coming conflict!
propose in this discourse to set fort
what ! consider to be some of the error
prevalent in the training of children.
First: I remark that many err in tC
greet severity or too great leniency {
family government. Between parent'
tyranny and ruinous laXativeness of di
Ciuiue there is n medium. Sometime
the father errS on one side, and Il
mother on the other side. Good fami
government is all important. Anarcl
and mi-l1llc in the domestic circle Is Il
forcrmuer Of anarchy and misrule
The state, What a repulsive spectacle
q home without order or discipline, di
obedience and impotence, and ang
and ilsolool lifting their horrld trol
in tine place which should be consecratt
20 al that is holy and peaceful an
beautiful In The attempt 10 avoid a
this. and bring the children under prope
laws and regulations, parents have some
times carried themselves with great rigol
John. Howard. who was mercifui to tn
prisons and lazarettOs, was merclless
The treatment of his children. job
Milton knew everything but how TO trai
his family. Severe and unreasonable
was he in his carriage toward them. ii
made them read to him in four or tiv
languages, but would not allow them
learn any of them, for he said that on
TONGUE was enough for a woman. The
reading was mechanical drudgery, wheT
if they had understood the languages the
read, the employment of reading mlgl
have been luxury. No wonder his CHI
dreu despised him. and stealtmly sold h
books. and hoped For his death. In a
ages there has been need of a soCiety tt
4bn t,1ayoptin, of cruelty TO children